KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened lower in quiet trading in the absence of interest this holiday-shortened week, dealers said.

Three minutes into trading, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.48 points or 0.25 per cent to 1,780.16, after opening 0.23 points lower at 1,784.41. 

HwangDBS Vickers Research said key US equity indices lost between 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent at the closing bell on concerns that the US Federal Reserve might start to slow down its bonds purchase programme soon following the announcement of buoyant economic indicators.

The research house said poor external sentiments could spill over to the local bourse which is on a half-day session today.

Its benchmark FBM KLCI is expected to back off from the 1,785 resistance line as trading slows ahead of the long festive break, it added.

In terms of news flows, the index of industrial production report for June is due for release this afternoon.

On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index eased 16.9 points to 8,328.84, the Industrial index was down 3.84 points to 3,024.04, but the Finance index added 1.51 points to 16,929.87.   

The FBM Emas Index lost 21.58 points to 12,418.95, the FBM100 Index erased 24.05 points to 12,155.45 and the FBM 70 Index dwindled 1.25 points to 14,318.25.   

Gainers slightly outpaced losers 76 to 64, with 111 counters unchanged, 1,322 untraded and 11 others were suspended.

Turnover totalled 28.308 million shares worth RM24.632 million.

Among actives, Faber Group rose seven sen to RM2.41, Daya Materials and Ingenuity Consolidated each inched down half-a-sen to 31.5 sen and 8.5 sen, respectively, while Luster Industries was flat at 9.5 sen.

Heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM10.44, Sime Darby was up seven sen to RM9.59 but CIMB shed one sen to RM7.87, Axiata declined five sen to RM6.80 and Maxis fell four sen to RM7.11. — Bernama